Page 25 of Run for Her Life
The daughter that now only existed in photographs and her dreams.
“If you’re sick, I’d like to know.” His eyes softened. “Are you sick?”
She paused, staring at the red juice coating the wooden cutting board. “You want a seat on the board? Find the missing prototype and all our problems go away.”
David pressed his lips in a hard line. “I thought you launched an internal investigation. Is that not going anywhere?”
“No.” She turned on the stove and spurted extra-virgin olive oil. “I can’t involve a lot of people. There are corporate spies everywhere and people ready to jump ship and sell our secrets to the highest bidder. I’ve made an excuse to the board for now but I’ll have to come clean if we are still no further forward in two weeks… maybe this was a mistake.”
“Which part?”
She hung her head low, her hands digging into the edge of the counter. “This whole change in direction. It makes me sick to my stomach what we tried to do. We should have destroyed the prototype—never let it get to that level.”
“We have to innovate,” he said tightly. “We’re becoming obsolete in a fast-moving world. If we don’t grow, we’ll disappear. No one cares about some data storage company with the competition that has come up. Creativity will thrive.”
“We could have thought of something else.” She hated admitting her concerns to David. But the words tumbled out of her after rattling around in her brain ever since the theft. “It’s insensitivity not creativity. And Adam’s agenda against us doesn’t calm any nerves.”
“Why is he linking her murder to us?” David spat, clearly frustrated.
Her focus slid back to him. “You tell me.”
They stared at each other as the air between them thickened and swelled with tension. The water boiled in a kettle behind Dawn. But she couldn’t look away. There was too much distrust between them ever since her daughter died. It twisted her heart how she was unable to look at David the same way again.
“The cops want Annabelle’s laptop. I refused.” David broke the silence. “I’m afraid they’re going to get a court order.”
“Damn it.” Were her problems ever going to end? “I’ll try to delay that on my end. The lawyers make a fortune being on retainer—they’d better earn it. Meanwhile, get to her laptop and begin deleting all the files and data. We should have done that before.”
He frowned. “That’ll look suspicious. I’ll get into trouble.”
“We’ll get into more trouble if the prototype leaks,” She hissed. “The bad publicity will destroy us.”
“I know but?—”
“You’ve picked the wrong time to grow a conscience, boy. You want in on the board? You get your hands dirty. Nothing comes before the company. Absolutely nothing.”
He scoffed, bitterness bleaching his tone. “Not even family?”
Tears collected at the back of her throat. She was exhausted. She dropped her voice. “David, this is our legacy. We will die but this will live. Our company, our hard work is the mark we leave behind in this world.”
“Your ego really knows no bounds, does it?” he argued hotly. “All these years, you’ve paintedmeas the bad guy when it’s my idea that might save this company. But you’ll never give me credit. My brainchild and you will?—”
Dawn’s palm met his face with a sharp crack. He didn’t even flinch.
“I’m doing this forus. Forourfamily. Our family and the company are one and the same. And don’t you even dare question my pain and intent. You have no idea what I’ve been through and what I’m willing to do. You are one of the many irons I have in the fire. Don’t give me a reason to pull you out.”
His eyes were blank. “She’ll be disappointed in us. This game that we greenlit.”
He walked away and the world shrunk around her.
“No, no, no!” Lisa groaned on the phone and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Of course, the judge didn’t sign, Ethan. We don’t have probable cause. There’s no evidence that Annabelle’s laptop contains criminal activity.”
“Oh, right,” he said. “We should go for exigent circumstances. Imminent risk of evidence destruction.”
“Yes. The longer Harrington Group has possession of her laptop, the higher the chances they might be deleting files.” She shot up from the chair to unload the dishwasher. The kitchen was in a haywire state, as if a tornado had torn through it—takeout boxes, overfilled trash bag, dirty dishes with crumbs welded to the rim, and spills from food and drinks dried up on the counter.
Now after a long day at the office, Lisa was cleaning up after her husband who stayed home all day. She caught her reflection in the window above the sink. Rain lashed against it. She looked small. She had allowed herself to be made this small.
“Ping the carrier to get a location on Jackie’s phones and the records,” Lisa said and hung up. She instantly regretted it. Had she sounded too curt? She didn’t care. She didn’t have the energy. Her hair was in disarray, her clothes smelled, and she hadn’t eaten since the morning.
